Heresy... Or just sensible updates?

[SanPedro]

You can shim it, but it's tough to find something thin enough. Even coke can is too thick. 25.8mm is supposed to be a middle ground that works with both, but it's only used on some road bars IIRC.

Straight bars may also mess up the riding position mind, bear in mind the bike was designed for drops. You might be better off going for wider drops or differently shaped brake levers. The Tektro ones I linked have offset levers so you can keep your hands in a comfortable position and still brake.

Not to mention there's a healthy dose of Rule 5 It might just take a few rides to get used to it, I've not ridden my MTB much over the summer and on a 50 mile ride the other day I started to get some weird hand pains.

Thanks for the help... TBH i tend to ride fairly upright I guess, holding the part of the bar nearest me. I doubt that changing the levers for a different set will make any difference... it really was that painful.

I do suffer some pains on the MTB, but not from braking. I run the Ergon grips that spread the load on the bars. Would get the same on a flat bar for the road bike as well.

EDIT: Looking around it seems 26mm flat bars are rarer than rocking horse cack. So I guess it's better to change the stem to a larger 31.8mm and use a spare MTB 31.8mm bar I already have.

EDIt AGAIN: or one of these plus new stem and bars http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STANDARD-QUIL ... 1216863720

 

[SanPedro]

Ok... so here she is after a few upgrades.

New saddle, new brake levers, new tyres, borrowed pedals, stem and bars. Much prefer the MTB bars for better/quicker braking but they are maybe a bit wide. And I'll maybe get some bar ends so I can vary hand position.

 

[vonhoolio]

as a long time MTBer who's turned to the dark side of skinny wheels (so I'm told by my mates) I can relate to the hand wrist pain. The simple fact for me turned out to be I needed to man up and ride more. My hand/wrists eventually got used to it and now I can flick between flat bar and drops pretty easily. I spend hours per week on a bike so it stands to reason that I'd get aggravation from usually unused muscles when I changed to drops. I had shoulder pain for months until I started back at the gym and it completely went after I built up some strength to hold myself up over the bars for longer periods.
Jas